PCP Hand Back Repairs Question
Discussion
Hey everyone, long time lurker, first post so please be gentle!
I will keep this brief.
I was recently promoted, and my firm is buying me a hybrid for commuting, despite getting the train into London everyday.
We have a Tiguan that is due to finish in December after 4 years, as I voluntarily terminated the contract today, which means we can hand the car back early, as we have satisfied the 50% rule.
One issue, we just had a service, and they presented me with a list for £1800 of repairs.
Standard VW inflation on labour and parts, but a few serious issues, primarily:
Last year fitted a new cam belt (urged to do it with VW on a promotional rate) then this weekend on the list is urgent repairs is ANOTHER cam belt, because there is a leak on the water pump. £500 to change the water pump, and £500 to fit the cam belt. Outrageous prices, and I suspect they didnt check the water pump last year, and now I am paying huge for it. No drips on the driveway, or lights on the dash, I have caught the VW garage out on lies before, not quite sure what to do about this £1000 item.
The other item, which was listed 6 months ago on the heath report during a recall, was "wishbone bush split." Now 6 months ago it was advisory, and now its is in the immediate repair items. Again, another £500, seems to be the magic number.
Other issues listed was a new tyre (2.6mm tread) and a set of new front brake pads (85% used). The tyres are all within the 2mm wear and tear range, so I dont need to change. No mention of pads, but I would change them as thats reasonable.
I havent fixed anything, other than a few verbal quotes of £600 to do all the work, however, and here comes the question.
If I am having BCA coming to inspect the car soon, how much repair should I be paying for. Or should I wait for the inspection?
Its a royal pain in the ass, and I will never have another PCP car as long as I live.
Thanks all, all advice is very useful.
I will keep this brief.
I was recently promoted, and my firm is buying me a hybrid for commuting, despite getting the train into London everyday.
We have a Tiguan that is due to finish in December after 4 years, as I voluntarily terminated the contract today, which means we can hand the car back early, as we have satisfied the 50% rule.
One issue, we just had a service, and they presented me with a list for £1800 of repairs.
Standard VW inflation on labour and parts, but a few serious issues, primarily:
Last year fitted a new cam belt (urged to do it with VW on a promotional rate) then this weekend on the list is urgent repairs is ANOTHER cam belt, because there is a leak on the water pump. £500 to change the water pump, and £500 to fit the cam belt. Outrageous prices, and I suspect they didnt check the water pump last year, and now I am paying huge for it. No drips on the driveway, or lights on the dash, I have caught the VW garage out on lies before, not quite sure what to do about this £1000 item.
The other item, which was listed 6 months ago on the heath report during a recall, was "wishbone bush split." Now 6 months ago it was advisory, and now its is in the immediate repair items. Again, another £500, seems to be the magic number.
Other issues listed was a new tyre (2.6mm tread) and a set of new front brake pads (85% used). The tyres are all within the 2mm wear and tear range, so I dont need to change. No mention of pads, but I would change them as thats reasonable.
I havent fixed anything, other than a few verbal quotes of £600 to do all the work, however, and here comes the question.
If I am having BCA coming to inspect the car soon, how much repair should I be paying for. Or should I wait for the inspection?
Its a royal pain in the ass, and I will never have another PCP car as long as I live.
Thanks all, all advice is very useful.
JayWhizz said:
Hey everyone, long time lurker, first post so please be gentle!
I will keep this brief.
I was recently promoted, and my firm is buying me a hybrid for commuting, despite getting the train into London everyday.
We have a Tiguan that is due to finish in December after 4 years, as I voluntarily terminated the contract today, which means we can hand the car back early, as we have satisfied the 50% rule.
One issue, we just had a service, and they presented me with a list for £1800 of repairs.
Standard VW inflation on labour and parts, but a few serious issues, primarily:
Last year fitted a new cam belt (urged to do it with VW on a promotional rate) then this weekend on the list is urgent repairs is ANOTHER cam belt, because there is a leak on the water pump. £500 to change the water pump, and £500 to fit the cam belt. Outrageous prices, and I suspect they didnt check the water pump last year, and now I am paying huge for it. No drips on the driveway, or lights on the dash, I have caught the VW garage out on lies before, not quite sure what to do about this £1000 item.
The other item, which was listed 6 months ago on the heath report during a recall, was "wishbone bush split." Now 6 months ago it was advisory, and now its is in the immediate repair items. Again, another £500, seems to be the magic number.
Other issues listed was a new tyre (2.6mm tread) and a set of new front brake pads (85% used). The tyres are all within the 2mm wear and tear range, so I dont need to change. No mention of pads, but I would change them as thats reasonable.
I havent fixed anything, other than a few verbal quotes of £600 to do all the work, however, and here comes the question.
If I am having BCA coming to inspect the car soon, how much repair should I be paying for. Or should I wait for the inspection?
Its a royal pain in the ass, and I will never have another PCP car as long as I live.
Thanks all, all advice is very useful.
I doubt BCA will pick up on that, It will be a driver, not a tech looking for work that inspects the car.I will keep this brief.
I was recently promoted, and my firm is buying me a hybrid for commuting, despite getting the train into London everyday.
We have a Tiguan that is due to finish in December after 4 years, as I voluntarily terminated the contract today, which means we can hand the car back early, as we have satisfied the 50% rule.
One issue, we just had a service, and they presented me with a list for £1800 of repairs.
Standard VW inflation on labour and parts, but a few serious issues, primarily:
Last year fitted a new cam belt (urged to do it with VW on a promotional rate) then this weekend on the list is urgent repairs is ANOTHER cam belt, because there is a leak on the water pump. £500 to change the water pump, and £500 to fit the cam belt. Outrageous prices, and I suspect they didnt check the water pump last year, and now I am paying huge for it. No drips on the driveway, or lights on the dash, I have caught the VW garage out on lies before, not quite sure what to do about this £1000 item.
The other item, which was listed 6 months ago on the heath report during a recall, was "wishbone bush split." Now 6 months ago it was advisory, and now its is in the immediate repair items. Again, another £500, seems to be the magic number.
Other issues listed was a new tyre (2.6mm tread) and a set of new front brake pads (85% used). The tyres are all within the 2mm wear and tear range, so I dont need to change. No mention of pads, but I would change them as thats reasonable.
I havent fixed anything, other than a few verbal quotes of £600 to do all the work, however, and here comes the question.
If I am having BCA coming to inspect the car soon, how much repair should I be paying for. Or should I wait for the inspection?
Its a royal pain in the ass, and I will never have another PCP car as long as I live.
Thanks all, all advice is very useful.
Ok, the car is in great condition, no scuffs on alloys, a few small stone marks here and there. The wife drives it, so very boring, slow and safe driver.
I find it too good to be true that the car will not be intensively inspected by a technician, under the hood and/or pull service records.
Thanks for the quick replies!
I find it too good to be true that the car will not be intensively inspected by a technician, under the hood and/or pull service records.
Thanks for the quick replies!
The cam belt thing has a bad smell of double-dipping.
The cam belt drives the water pump so the old one has to be taken off to replace the pump. So it's fair enough to fit a new belt when it's put back together, but the only difference in cost is the price of the belt and that should be no more than £50 not £500.
By charging £500 for both it sounds like they're trying to charge you for two completely separate jobs.
The cam belt drives the water pump so the old one has to be taken off to replace the pump. So it's fair enough to fit a new belt when it's put back together, but the only difference in cost is the price of the belt and that should be no more than £50 not £500.
By charging £500 for both it sounds like they're trying to charge you for two completely separate jobs.
SO27 said:
The cam belt thing has a bad smell of double-dipping.
The cam belt drives the water pump so the old one has to be taken off to replace the pump. So it's fair enough to fit a new belt when it's put back together, but the only difference in cost is the price of the belt and that should be no more than £50 not £500.
Not many places will fit just a belt, it's bad practice and open up a can of worms as to who is to blame if there is a failure. Usually a full kit is fitted including belt, tensioner/s and idler pulleys which is the best part of £100 for a decent brand, plus the dealer parts tax, plus the labour, plus the vat. £500 is about right.The cam belt drives the water pump so the old one has to be taken off to replace the pump. So it's fair enough to fit a new belt when it's put back together, but the only difference in cost is the price of the belt and that should be no more than £50 not £500.
They really should have offered you the option of replacing the water pump at the same time as the original cam belt, any good garage would (same as replacing clutch while the gearbox is out for any reason). 90% of the labour to do it is already done while doing the cambelt so even if the pump had another 30k miles left in it, it's still best to get a new one.
We've literally just had BCA out to inspect one of our work Golf's (GTD). This had various issues, it was just under 40k and we knew at 40k it would require a gearbox oil change on next service and other bits so kept it just under 40k to make sure no indicators came on. VW also had to do some warranty work for the door and made comments about similar items which could do with addressing.
We did nothing with it other than make sure it was clean and presentable and that it was serviced according to the schedule as specified by VW, BCA inspected Tuesday and their only finds were items such as dents/scuffs and tyres (one tyre needed to be replaced due to a tear in the wall)
Unsure how the end of a PCP is different to a lease but they didn't do any inspection work beyond the exterior, however thats because the car was only 3 years old and from a lease. If your car is older and end of a PCP they may go a little further as the car could have more wear n tear which they may wish to look for.
I'll attach a screen shot of how they work out charges to give you some insight
We did nothing with it other than make sure it was clean and presentable and that it was serviced according to the schedule as specified by VW, BCA inspected Tuesday and their only finds were items such as dents/scuffs and tyres (one tyre needed to be replaced due to a tear in the wall)
Unsure how the end of a PCP is different to a lease but they didn't do any inspection work beyond the exterior, however thats because the car was only 3 years old and from a lease. If your car is older and end of a PCP they may go a little further as the car could have more wear n tear which they may wish to look for.
I'll attach a screen shot of how they work out charges to give you some insight
Edited by Eth2312 on Thursday 23 August 13:33
750turbo said:
I doubt BCA will pick up on that, It will be a driver, not a tech looking for work that inspects the car.
BCA collected my skoda 2 weeks back. all they did was check the bodywork, checked the sat nav worked, ignition on to check for warning lights, spare wheel and kit were there and then signed it off. bonnet wasn't even lifted.was only there about 15 mins, and 10 of those were checking the panels, wheels and tyres for damage.
BCA will only check for panel and wheel/tyre damage. If there are no warning lights on the dash and no obvious noises on starting then that is as far as it goes. They will not check for mechanical wear. The last car they collected from me had a small panel dent which was noted but no invoice ever appeared.
I’m commenting without knowing the figures of how much the car is worth etc so bear with me;
You have PCP’d a car for 44 of the 48 months. I wouldn’t be as willing as you are to just give it back on the 50% rule when you’ve only got 4 months left.
I would refinance/pay the balloon payment in December, then repair the car at an independent specialist for a fraction of what the dealer is charging you, then sell the car. Juggle the current car with the new company car for 4 months if necessary.
Obviously only do this if the balloon payment is worthy ie less than what the value of the car is. If the balloon payment is rip off territory then yeah, just give the car back.
For the record, I lease my cars for 2 years and give them back with no option to buy (PCH), but paying a PCP for 44 months then just handing it back on the 50% rule seems like a bad idea.
Maybe if you were only 25 months in then I’d have a different opinion. But you’re likely heavily invested into the car now.
You have PCP’d a car for 44 of the 48 months. I wouldn’t be as willing as you are to just give it back on the 50% rule when you’ve only got 4 months left.
I would refinance/pay the balloon payment in December, then repair the car at an independent specialist for a fraction of what the dealer is charging you, then sell the car. Juggle the current car with the new company car for 4 months if necessary.
Obviously only do this if the balloon payment is worthy ie less than what the value of the car is. If the balloon payment is rip off territory then yeah, just give the car back.
For the record, I lease my cars for 2 years and give them back with no option to buy (PCH), but paying a PCP for 44 months then just handing it back on the 50% rule seems like a bad idea.
Maybe if you were only 25 months in then I’d have a different opinion. But you’re likely heavily invested into the car now.
Why not ask your employer for a cash alternative to a company car? It sounds like your in their good books if you're being promoted. Explain to them your situation, if they are a good employer they will understand.
I'd also ring around a few other VW dealers and ask them what work is involved in a cambelt change, normally as you say the water pump has to be replaced. If other dealers say this and price is ballpark what you paid, get them to quote you and show this to the dealer. Then complain to dealer why they not replace the water pump. If dealer not play ball try The Motor Ombudsman.
And isn't the cambelt 140k miles or 5 years on a Tiguan? I've just googled it out of curiosity.
I'd be fuming 12 months on after paying that, it's not as if your car is old.
I'd also ring around a few other VW dealers and ask them what work is involved in a cambelt change, normally as you say the water pump has to be replaced. If other dealers say this and price is ballpark what you paid, get them to quote you and show this to the dealer. Then complain to dealer why they not replace the water pump. If dealer not play ball try The Motor Ombudsman.
And isn't the cambelt 140k miles or 5 years on a Tiguan? I've just googled it out of curiosity.
I'd be fuming 12 months on after paying that, it's not as if your car is old.
Edited by virtualm on Friday 24th August 05:19
Interesting reading.
This certainly makes a bit of a mockery of the usual pcp mantra of wanting a new car for reliability and avoiding the cost and inconvenience of repairs... rather than just admitting you want to be seen driving around in a car that you can't actually afford to buy.
This certainly makes a bit of a mockery of the usual pcp mantra of wanting a new car for reliability and avoiding the cost and inconvenience of repairs... rather than just admitting you want to be seen driving around in a car that you can't actually afford to buy.
mike74 said:
Interesting reading.
This certainly makes a bit of a mockery of the usual pcp mantra of wanting a new car for reliability and avoiding the cost and inconvenience of repairs... rather than just admitting you want to be seen driving around in a car that you can't actually afford to buy.
The car is now 4 years old, it’s not new anymore, and likely out of warranty. So it’s unlikely that this was his mantra when he took the deal. This certainly makes a bit of a mockery of the usual pcp mantra of wanting a new car for reliability and avoiding the cost and inconvenience of repairs... rather than just admitting you want to be seen driving around in a car that you can't actually afford to buy.
Also, at what point has the OP said he can’t afford it? He is just trying to keep the costs down, like any sensible person would do, rich or poor.
Edit; actually don’t bother replying, having read some of your other posts it’s clear you’re just another bitter person, worried about everyone else’s lives, while not being able to afford a pot to piss in yourself.
Edited by roadsmash on Friday 24th August 08:20
roadsmash said:
The car is now 4 years old, it’s not new anymore, and likely out of warranty. So it’s unlikely that this was his mantra when he took the deal.
Also, at what point has the OP said he can’t afford it? He is just trying to keep the costs down, like any sensible person would do, rich or poor.
Edit; actually don’t bother replying, having read some of your other posts it’s clear you’re just another bitter person, worried about everyone else’s lives, while not being able to afford a pot to piss in yourself.
All you debt junkies and ten bob millionaires with your inferiority complexes really are so thin skinned and easily wind up-able, it's like shooting fish in a barrel.Also, at what point has the OP said he can’t afford it? He is just trying to keep the costs down, like any sensible person would do, rich or poor.
Edit; actually don’t bother replying, having read some of your other posts it’s clear you’re just another bitter person, worried about everyone else’s lives, while not being able to afford a pot to piss in yourself.
Edited by roadsmash on Friday 24th August 08:20
mike74 said:
roadsmash said:
The car is now 4 years old, it’s not new anymore, and likely out of warranty. So it’s unlikely that this was his mantra when he took the deal.
Also, at what point has the OP said he can’t afford it? He is just trying to keep the costs down, like any sensible person would do, rich or poor.
Edit; actually don’t bother replying, having read some of your other posts it’s clear you’re just another bitter person, worried about everyone else’s lives, while not being able to afford a pot to piss in yourself.
All you debt junkies and ten bob millionaires with your inferiority complexes really are so thin skinned and easily wind up-able, it's like shooting fish in a barrel.Also, at what point has the OP said he can’t afford it? He is just trying to keep the costs down, like any sensible person would do, rich or poor.
Edit; actually don’t bother replying, having read some of your other posts it’s clear you’re just another bitter person, worried about everyone else’s lives, while not being able to afford a pot to piss in yourself.
Edited by roadsmash on Friday 24th August 08:20
But thanks for your input!
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